Isn’t it time for the man with the dirt brush to sweep away all the clutter and filth of error and deceit? You can find him on page 82 of Early Writings doing the work of separating the truth from the error and revealing more truth to fill a bigger box.
I have a question. Why do we never hear anything said of this “man.” There are things we need to be aware of these days, like the shaking, Satan trying to open the shut door and the omega of apostasy. Do we understand these warnings? Are we ready for the judgment which is very good news, the gospel? Could it be that the omega is not the alpha developed into an advanced form for the very end of time? Without a doubt, the alpha is still here, doing it’s evil work, but it’s not the omega. Instead of making the alpha the omega, I’d like to suggest that, yes, the omega is here today, alive and well but has so concealed itself that we cannot recognize it for what it is. It’s not only a most dangerous heresy, but not knowing what it truly is could cause the eternal loss of many. It’s because we fail to see the omega that we make the alpha the omega. Well, we have to. We don’t see any another choices.
So then, what is the omega? Consider this. It starts with Satan getting us to return to the holy place while we think we’re in the most holy. It’s the rejection of the very message the Seventh-day Adventist Church has come into being to share with the Gentile world. It’s the cleansing of the sanctuary of the human soul, the soul-temple. It’s the finishing of the mystery of God. Revelation 10:7; Christ in you. Colossians 1:7. It’s the final message we have for the ourselves and the nations. Ellen White tells us our message is . . .
“. . .the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant promise: ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’ ‘In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.’ Jeremiah 31:34; 50:20. ‘In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 4:2, 3. Great Controversy, 485).
Let’s not forget the Investigative Judgment is not only for a sanctuary in heaven but reaches into the hearts of all mankind, to the temples of the Living God, “Which temples ye are” (I Corinthians 3:17). It’s the cleansing of the people of Israel, modern day Israel. The Bible tells us,
“For on that day shall [the priest] make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, [that] ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. . . And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation” (Leviticus 16:30).
The enemies of present truth are telling us that the cleansing of the sanctuary doesn’t have a dual meaning including both the one in heaven and the soul-temple. They exclude the temple of the human soul and declare any cleansing of any sanctuary is the one in heaven alone. Then, they place the final moral cleansing of the human soul-temple, not by or before the close of probation but extend it to the second coming. Yes, sinless perfection for them comes at the second coming. I can’t think of a better way to try to open the door that was shut and shut the door that has been opened. But in the end, the most holy place experience will happen; God’s people will receive the “perfecting,” sealing latter rain (Testimonies to Ministers, 506).
What the latter rain does is not a secret, yet I seldom hear anyone refer to it other than as a time of great power for Israel to do her final duty and privilege. I’ve even heard many deny that there is character development under the latter rain. We need to carefully study the chapter in Testimonies to Ministers named “Pray for the Latter Rain.” There we’ll find that the work of the latter rain does indeed bring character development, “spiritual growth,” to the human soul. Notice also in the quotation below that the work of the latter rain is perfect and complete. In three ways, the Ellen White tells us of the total work of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.
“The Lord employs these operations of nature [former and latter rain]to represent the work of the Holy Spirit. As the dew and the rain are given first to cause the seed to germinate, and then to ripen the harvest, so the Holy Spirit is given to carry forward, from one stage to another, the process of spiritual growth. [There really is spiritual growth under thre latter rain] The ripening of the grain represents the completion of the work of God's grace in the soul. By the power of the Holy Spirit the moral image of God is to be perfected in the character. We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ.
“The latter rain, ripening earth's harvest, represents the spiritual grace that prepares the church for the coming of the Son of man" (Testimonies to Ministers, 506).
Complete is complete, perfect is perfect and whole is whole. Only the body will be changed when Jesus comes.
Continuing with the quotation above from Great Controversy we read that the Investigative Judgment and the blotting out of sins are before the second coming. Please also notice that Ellen White in the next statement ties the Investigative Judgment, with the latter rain, with the blotting out of sins and with the complete fulfillment of the new covenant promise. With the new covenant promise, our sins will be “blotted out” by the latter rain, the “times of refreshing,” Jesus will come shortly after. The prophet continues from the above statement,
“The work of the investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men should be blotted out until after the judgment at which their cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly states that the sins of believers will be blotted out ‘when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ.’ Acts 3:19, 20. When the investigative judgment closes, Christ will come, and His reward will be with Him to give to every man as his work shall be” (Great Controversy, 485).
Another question. When is the last time you heard that someday your sins will be “blotted out?”
Satan is working overtime in the world, but more eagerly in our church. We have been warned, but are we reading the warnings? Do we know the warnings? Have we unknowingly gone back into the first apartment while thinking we’re still in the most holy? (Early Writings 43). Are we standing up against rather than accepting the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans? Is the shaking about to commence? Ellen White tells us the shaking will come about as we resist the Laodicean message to buy gold, eye salve and white raiment (Early Writings 270).
It all comes down to this. It’s the call to stand before God in the judgment in the most holy, pleading only the imputed righteousness of Christ. As a result of being accepted, justified by faith in the justifying righteousness of Christ, we will receive the imparted, sanctifying righteousness of the Savior, total and complete sanctification through the “perfecting latter rain.” God has set a time when He will judgment the world and He will finish the work as He cuts it short in righteousness.
“For he will finish the work, and cut [it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Romans 9:28).
For more details on this, please read, The Man with the Dirt Brush – Two Kings – North and South. It’s 215 pages in paperback from Amazon, 99 cents on Kindle.
David Miller
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